Bottle carrier



E. L. ARNESON BOTTLE CARRIER March 4, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Jan. .10, 1948 INVENTOR. fazwrblflfizagmz,

March 4, 1952 E, L, ARNESON 2,587,808

BOTTLE CARRIER Filed Jan. 10, 1948 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 Patented Mar. 4, 1952 BOTTLE CARRIER Edwin L. Arne son, Morris, 11]., assignor to Morris Paper Mills, nois Chicago, 111., a. corporation of Illi- Application January 10, 1948, Serial No. 1,648

-The subject of the present invention-is an improved, one piece paperboard carrier for bottles and like elongated articles, which carrier has novel means for reinforcing the sameizigainst destructive stresses, particularly in the integral handleo'f the carrier by which it is suspended and transported when loaded with such articles.

The present invention relates to open top bottle carriers of the general type illustrated and described in the patent Lebold, No. 2,389,318 of November 20, 1945. These carriers are characterized by a body portion which is subdivided, into two equal halves by a central, upwardly extending partition and suspending panel. The genes on either side of said panel are each subdivided into a plurality of upwardly opening article receiving cells by means of integral cross partition elements which are hingedly connected to opposite surfaces of said central panel and -to the respective opposed side walls of the carrier body which are spaced from either side of said panel. The present carrier structure presents avertically and longitudinally stepped arrangement of the aforesaid cross partitions, as in the Lebold patent, however, it should be understood that the improved features of the present invention are equally applicable to carriers lacking this stepped nature.

It has been found that not only is the handle of the usual bottle carrier the source of most common failure of these carriers when loaded with filled bottles, but also that a zone of possible damage or failure exists at the point of hinged connection of the central suspending panel to the end walls of a carrier of the Lebold type. This reason-for this is that there is a tendency to tear from said panel across the end wall, parallelto the grain of the paperboard stock, when the carrierlis loaded and handled roughly, either during or afterlthe loading operation. The present 'invention overcomes these objections, affording ,a reinforced, multiple ply handle and a braced end wall for a carrier of the foregoing type, whereby the latter, when loaded, may be lifted, swung, tilted or otherwise handled in a manner to impose severe tearing stresses thereon,without showing any tendency to fail.

Hence, an object of the invention is to provide a carton-like fibrous or paperboard article carrier of the foregoing general typehaving improved provisions for reinforcing the central suspending or handle panel thereof and at the same time insuring against tearing of the end wall under the above described circumstances. A more specific. object is to provide a carrier 9 Claims. (01. 229-52) and handle therefor in which certain wall and handle reinforcing flaps are provided in novel, alternate or staggeredrelationship on opposite ends of the blank from which the carrier is fabricated, thereby to providexreinforcing and tearresisting members which are adapted to be disposed in a novel relationship to the handle and end walls of the completed carrier.

A still more specific object is to provide a bottle carrier of the type described, and a paperboard blank from which the same is fabricated. characterized by a pair of; generally rectangular handle sections foldably connected to one another by a central, longitudinally extending crease line, together with inwardly foldable reinforcing and bracing flaps conjoined by diagonal fold lines to opposite ends of the aforesaid sections on opposite sides of said central line, thereby enabling said fiaps to be adhesively secured to the respective end walls of the carrier, so as to be disposed transversely of the grain of the latter and to lie across the line at which tearing stress is most pronouncedly applied at the end walls.

The foregoing statements aretindicative in a general way of the nature of the invention, but other and more specific objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon a full understanding of the construction and operation of the device.

A single embodiment of the invention is presented herein for the purpose of exemplification, but it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible of incorporation in other modified forms coming equally within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a died out paperboard blank from which the present carrier is constructed, illustrating the manner in which the same is slitted, creased and glued preparatory to manipulating the parts thereof in assembling the carrier;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the blank following initial folding and adhering of certain of the glued parts, and also stippled to show a subsequent gluing of certain other parts;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the carrier in completed flat or knock-down condition following further manipulation thereof;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the carrier in erected condition ready to receive bottles or like contents; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are, respectively, views in transverse vertical section taken approximately along lines 5-! and 8-6 of Fig. 4, illustrating the relanected to one another by a medial crease line l3 which extends longitudinally across the blank The handle sections are separated from pairs-of. 1

side and end wall sections I l, I5 on opposite sides thereof (which are flexibly connected thereto) by f swinging movement of said walls in erecting the carrier.

The side and end Walls I4, are flexibly connected to oneanother by the :crease hinge 19 which transversely intersects slit Hi and termina'tesat slit ll. A further transverse creased hinge 20" intersects the slit H and joins theslits l6, [8 at its opposite ends. The effect of this slitting aa'nd creasing, as described in the Lebold patent, is to define sets of staggered, or vertically and longitudinally stepped, cross partition elements' or. straps 2| which extend normal .to and between the handle-panel, constituted by sections l l, l2, and the sidewalls [4 when the carrier is erected. v

The panel sections '1 l, 12 are marginally creased at 22 to setoff a foldable handle reinforcingfflap 23 at one end of each thereof. This crease 22 intersects slit ['8 and terminates: at slit l-I so as to afford a hinge about whichthe endmost partition strap 21 is swingable relative to the side wall 'I 4.

The opposite ends of the respective panel sections ll, l2 are each hingedly connected to end wall sections I5 by a crease 24 disposed in alignment with the margin of the section, and an inclined slit 25 intersects the end of this crease and the outer end of slit It. sets of angularly arranged .slits Zeandcreases 2'i in the end walls 15, the former paralleling the medial crease l3 and the latterdisposedat an angle of approximately 45 degrees thereto, extend from the inner terminusof crease 24"to-the outer rnarginof the blank. They provide a pair of bendable tabs 28 which are-adapted to be bent inwardlyand downwardly about crease 21 and disposed in downwardly straddlingor overlapping relation to -the'outer end of the slit 25, in the fashion illustrated in Figs. 2, 4, 5 and 6. When adhesively secured to the end walls-lithe tabs 28 aiford a stop which resists'tendency of the carton-(stock to tear out- Ward'lyalong an extension of the slit 25.

In-assembling the carrier the flaps 23 and tabs 28 it are first coated with adhesive, as indicated by stippling in Fig. 1. They are then folded inwardly'around crease lines'22 andZ'i respectively and adhered-to panel sections l l, Hand to end walls 15 respectively, .to the position of Fig. 2. Glue laps 29 are next folded onto side walls l4 and given' a'coating of glue as shown "in Fig. 2, the infolded iflaps 23 being glued; and'the opposed halves of the blank are then brought'together about medial fold line l3 and adhered by said gluedflaps and laps. The carrier is shownin this final position in Fig.3. *When'the carrier'is erected to operative condition, as inFi'gs. 4, 5 and 6, with the "bottom members 33-latched-and-holding the parts'in said condition, the depending tabs 28, which are adhesively secured to the respective end walls l5, reinforce and stiffen the latter to some extent; however, their primary purpose is to overlie the zone of the end wall adjacent its connection to the handle 12, at which the most severe tearing stress on the stock normally exists. The direction of normal tearing "stress is indicated by arrows in Fig. A. Inasmuch as the grain of the paperboard stock of the walls is horizontal, the folding and adhering of tabs 28 results in their lying across said grain, so as to furnish a bar to tearing. The inclination of the slits 25 by which the handle-is partially separated from the end walls produces asmargin on the latter angled to the direction of the grain which also contributes to a minimization of the tearing tendency.

The handle reinforcing flaps 23 substantially rigidify the handle panel, a function which is still further assisted by the. adhesive securing these flaps and panels to one another following folding on line 13. Tearing of the, handle when the-carrier and contents are lifted, swung, twisted -or otherwise roughlyhandled is practically impossible.

Moreover, considerable difiiculty .is'usually ex.- perienced, in the operation :of .high speed gluing machines, in'obtaining a proper adherence to'one another of superposed glued panels traversing such machinewhenisaid panels vary in plythic-kness at different areas .thereof. Thus if 'rthe handle sections l l, l.2*were adhered directlyzto one another, they would producela double-:ply thickness immediately adjoining the zones ,;of triple-ply thickness" which are represented by the tabs 28 lyingbetween .an end wall panel I15 and the opposite side-wall panel I l-(in thezcondition of the article-represented:byFig. 3) This variation in thickness tends to non-uniformity .of ap plication of pressure by the :compressive sealing.

rollers ofthe gluing machine-with resultant possible failure of the two-ply thickness to be adhered together'properly. 3 7

However, by providing the inwardly folded handle flaps 2-3 as shown, the strength-of the handle is not only increased by more tha'n' 50, but its sectional thickness is madeequal-to that'o'f the adjacent glued zones at whichtabs "28 are walls, said central panel comprising "a fpaif'flf t a bottom, a centralpanel paralleling and located in a plane between said side walls, and flexibly connected at its ends to midpoints of said end 'walls; said central panel comprising :a pair of sections disposed in'parallel, a multi-ply rela-' tionpa reinforcing flap. conjoinedlyto end' margin of each of sections, which flaps are folded to position paralleling and between said sections, and a tab bendably connected to each of said end walls outwardly of the opposite end margins of said respective panel sections, said tabs each being disposed in flat, side-by-side relation to an end wall in adjacent, vertically straddling relation to the flexible connection of said panel to said end wall, and means securing said tabs in said relation.

3. An article carrier comprising pairs of opposed, fiexibly connected side and end walls and a bottom, a central panel paralleling and located in a plane between said side walls, and flexibly connected at its ends to midpoints of said end walls, said central panel comprising a pair of sections connected to one another along an upper fold line and disposed in parallel, multi-ply relation, a reinforcing flap conjoined to an end margin of each of sections on opposite sides of said fold line, which flaps are folded to position paralleling and between said sections, and a tab bendably connected to each of said end walls outwardly of the opposite end margins of said respective panel sections, said tabs each being disposed in flat, side-by-side relation to an end wall in adjacent, vertically straddling relation to the flexible connection of said panel to said end wall, and means securing said tabs in said relation.

4. A carrier of the type defined in claim 1, in which only one of said tabs is provided on each of said panel sections, being located at opposite ends of the respective sections.

5. A carrier of the type defined in claim 2, in which said panel sections each have but one tab and one flap, located at respective opposite ends thereof with the respective tabs and the respective flaps in staggered relation to one another.

6. A paperboard carrier comprising a bottom, side walls connected to said bottom, a vertically extending panel including a pair of sections disposed parallel to and between said walls and foldably connected to one another along the top margin of said panel, and flexible partition straps cut from the material of said respective side walls and panel sections and hinged thereto on vertical hinges to subdivide the space on opposite sides of said panel into at least three article receiving cells, the portion of each of the side walls defining an intermediate cell being vertically stepped in height relative to the side wall portions defining cells on either side of said intermediate cell, said panel sections each having a flap of substantial area hinged to a side margain thereof and said flaps being folded on and adhesively secured between saidpanel sections in the zone of the latter adjacent said partition straps, said panel sections and interposed flaps being disposed in flat, planar condition throughout substantially the entire area thereof.

7. An article carrier comprising a bottom, side walls connected to said bottom, end walls extending between said side walls, a vertically extendingmulti-ply panel disposed parallel to and between said side walls, and flexible partition strips extending between said respective side walls and panel to subdivide the space on opposite sides thereof, said panel being flexibly connected to said end walls, and at least one of the latter being provided with a flap flexibly conjoined to an upper margin thereof, by a hinge enabling said flap to be folded downwardly, said flap being adhesively secured to said end wall and in said last named position substantially over-extending the lowermost margin of said panel at its flexible connection to said end wall.

8. A carrier of the type defined in claim 7, in which both end walls are provided with a tab in the relation thereto defined in claim 7.

9. A paperboard carrier comprising a bottom, side walls connected to said bottom, a vertically extending panel including a pair of sections disposed parallel to and between said walls and foldably connected to one another along the top margin of said panel, and flexible partition straps cut from the material of said respective side walls and panel sections and hinged thereto on vertical hinges to subdivide the space on opposite sides of said panel into at least three article receiving cells, the portion of each of the side walls defining an intermediate cell being vertically stepped in height relative to the side wall portions defining cells on either side of said intermediate cell, at least one ofsaid panel sections having a flap of substantial area integrally hinged to a side margin thereof and said flap being folded on and adhesively secured between said panel sections in the zone of the latter adjacent said partition straps, said panel sections and interposed flap being disposed in flat, planar condition throughout substantially the entire area thereof.

EDWIN L. ARNESON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,273,266 Himes Feb. 17, 1942 2,322,396 Slevin, Jr June 22, 1943 2,368,203 Crane Jan. 30, 1945 2,371,471 Rothstein Mar. 13, 1945 2,372,351 Arneson Mar. 27, 1945 2,458,281 Lupton Jan. 4, 1949 2,460,229 Lebold Jan. 25, 1949 

